Chapter #3Couch Survivalist Climb by: Griswald   The couch was an absolutely huge and intimidating structure in an ungodly large hellscape that would have been a simple, cozy little lounge if your shrink ray hadn’t died on you.
It was a work of competent craftsmanship—a wooden frame that resembled a bench, but whose bottom stood less than a foot off the floor, supporting a wide rectangular grey seating cushion on top and a second cushion that served as a backrest. Two pillows of the same grey color as the couch leaned against each wooden armrest, which were supported by an open framework of wooden planks.
It was placed against the backdrop of a large white garage gate that had long been retired to serve merely as a wall. An off-white sheet hung behind the couch, and a string of Christmas lights wired around the entire gate, providing cozy mood lighting.
You decided that the couch represented the easiest climb and offered the best chance to gain elevation without risking a fall straight down from a towering table leg, since a kaki green blanket with a square pattern dangled messily from the wide grey seating cushion. The logic was that if you tripped during your climb, you would at least roll down a soft blanket.
You gripped your knife and began your ascent. With one hand, you easily grabbed the fibers of the blanket, which were much more tangible at your small size, while with the other, you stabbed your knife into it for extra support. Each bare hand grip served as a moment to resecure your knife, and each firm knife stab provided the safety needed to gain additional altitude. This was what you trained for after all: survival in a brutal world where you could be killed without mercy, unlike that scrawny girl who clung to pre-outbreak culture out of nostalgia for a world she never knew. Comic books and 90s grunge appeared childish in the face of all the grit, suffering, danger, and death.
You moved up bit by bit as the scent of the blanket shifted from a simple, stuffy odor to something more human. You could not help but feel a bit humiliated by the unaware giant, as you were forced to climb along a piece of fabric that had absorbed her scent. At first, your sensitive little nose caught only a faint hint of sweat, until you sensed something worse nearby. You looked up and saw that some of the fabric above you bore traces of something dried into it—something the normal human eye would not notice.
You grimaced as you turned to look at the 19-year-old giantess’s back, still hunched over her desk while reading her comic. For dignity’s sake, you took a small detour around the spot of whatever that was and reached the final stretch of your grueling effort, finally making it up to the flat open surface of the couch seating.
“Ooh, that was gnarly,” Ellie said as her eyes scanned the last page of the comic, where Dr. Daniela Star blew up a traveler’s head in gory detail.
Satisfied, the girl shut her comic book and left it on the desk as she pushed back her chair to get up. The giant turned toward the couch with a leisurely stride, forcing you to weigh your options carefully.
You could hide behind one of the pillows for the time being, or run off the blanket and onto the grey surface of the couch, thereby making yourself more visible to grab the girl’s attention and spin a cover story to get her help or protection. Whichever option you picked, you had to decide quickly, for on top of the couch’s kaki blanket, you were too camouflaged to be noticed if she were to sit down.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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